Das Keyboard 5Q Kickstarter January Update

We just want to take this moment to state how much we appreciate everyone’s patience throughout this campaign. It has been a long and tough journey, and we can’t wait to ship the Das Keyboard 5Q to you.

We have produced over 2000 keyboards so far, and are currently busy producing the remaining units. We expect to ship the majority in February. The logistics of fulfillment can result in delays, but our target is to start shipping before Chinese New Year (2/16/2018).

When you receive the keyboard there will be a mandatory firmware update which we will provide a link to. We will continue to push more firmware and software updates as additional features and improvements are added.

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Here is a list of Q App features that have been completed:

## Keyboard RGB profiles:

Ability to set a multi-color profile

Ability to auto-set a profile based on front-most running app (i.e. use Photoshop profile when Photoshop is used)

## Signals / Q API - Ability to receive and manage signals:

via Q cloud API

via local API
via IFTTT

## OS support:

Support for MS Windows

## Mobile:

Android app to display incoming signals

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Please note that not all Q App features will be available at launch, but we are very excited to get these keyboards in your hands now, and working on these features that will be in a future update:

I've been a fan of DAS keyboards longer than I can remember. Never owned one, too expensive for me. Then there was 5Q.. I was making a bit more $$, and here this amazing company who I've followed as long as I've owned a computer apparently needs help to realize it.. Hmm.. Ok.. Would make a great compliment to the Z-Mouse I backed on the same day, the most intricate advanced mouse that's ever been produced. As I type this, on my aging G910 keyboard, with my Z-Mouse at its side, I look forward to owning the last piece of hardware you will ever make. Clearly you are not relevant enough anymore, as a long established company, to finance your own products. When you finally ship, it will be another product too expensive for most to justify purchasing. So your backers are likely the majority of all the customers you will ever have. Once this is over, so are you. We are your advertising , which is evident by the fact that after so long, the general public still has no idea you exist. This campaign is now what you will go down being known for. It was a nice ride, but your stop is coming up. Get off the bus with offerings in hand, or get jumped and left for dead in the ditch.

I hope Kickstarter learns from projects like this that there needs to be consequences for non-delivery, lack of updates, lies, etc. I've backed at least a dozen projects, but I'll never back another one -- here or any other similar platform -- again. Projects like these, instead of encouraging innovation, actually serve to squash it.

Why even bother to commit to a date - always with the excuses. I fucking knew we wouldn't hear squat on Chinese new year, and since everyone is now on holiday there, we'll have another reason for a delay.

So... I'm begjnning to think they were referring to next year's Chinese New Year since I see no indications that they shipped anything at all.

I'm curious to see what their March and 2018 update will be:

a.) "We would like to clarify that there was some confusion to our last update. We actually meant 2019 Year of the Pig, an intern who was clearly not Asian made this mistake. Right now our manufacturing partner is still busy enjoying this year's Chinese New Year celebrations and are unable to resume modifications to the manufacturing process due to that last change we made which we hope will now comply to standards because we so not did that before launching this project."

b.) "We regretfully inform you that a tropical storm just hit the ship carrying all our completed keyboards. Unfortunately we ran out of funds creating said keyboards and are no longer able to fulfill orders from our backers. But on the bright side, besides your keyboards being at the bottom of the ocean, there were no reported casualties to the non-existent ship we used to deliver your non-existent keyboard"

...

z.) "We can't deliver the keyboard we promised since we really didn't intend to in the first place. We just needed the money to stay afloat for the next 2 years and hope our backers don't give a damn enough about their money by then and move on to another keyboard that would most likely be better than a concept we revealed back in 2016."

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I seriously envy those who managed to get a refund in December 2016. Now we're stuck hoping for another damn year that this thing actually ships to its backers.

I'd love to be proven wrong about this one DAS, but I've been disappointed far too many times since backing this project to warrant giving just a sliver of hope.

We haven't shipped yet, but we are nearing end of production and almost ready to fulfill! I don't have exact details and guarantees on shipping times, but we are estimating that those backers with expedited shipping will get them before Christmas. And the rest in January!

DAS: Please update your backer community when you have shipped. This update states you expect to ship the majority of the boards in February. Were you talking about February this year (current month) or next year rather? Thanks!

It's become apparent to me that Das either doesn't publish their engineering team on their website (which is entirely possible) or... they are completely outsourcing all the PD and EE design of these keyboards... essentially only doing the one thing their parent company (Metadot) is familiar with... software.

This would be quire sad if so and would explain a lot about why all the kickstarter updates are so vague and lacking in detail.

Lol. We shouldn’t care that the “Das Keyboard 5Q: The Cloud Connected Keyboard” isn’t cloud connected on the most popular developer os’s in the market today. Who do you think is buying this keyboard?

If they had credibility on delivering results, I’d absolutely agree about the SDLC. Software is sometimes harder to make than you can predict. I’m a software engineer, I get that. But they don’t have credibility, they have 20 months of excuses.

I’ll bet my $130 backer pledge that I never see a software update to support Mac or Linux after this keyboard ships. That’s what is making us angry.

They've had 18 months so far, against an original timeline of six months, and yet they only have one of the three operating systems working? Looks like they're just as bad at that as they are at actually building these things. If it's so easy for them to fix, why haven't they done it in the extra time they had?

Folks, you should really read the complete update. The OS support refers to the Q app, a piece of software. Software can be updated easily and you can implement a software for another OS. That is really no problem and in my opinion it makes more sense to have a rather solid piece of software for one OS than 3 buggy ones for different OS.

Another thing is this buying topic. If you need a keyboard soon than please go to a store and buy one. Supporting a company to create a new product is something completely different. And everyone working in software development knows that there are unpredictable problems and they need to be solved. And this is what we see at the moment, perhaps not everything is as transparent as it should be, but hey, I see some progress. So, DAS, keep going!

“Just to clarify, the keyboards will be macOS and Linux compatible on delivery. The Q App support for these two OSes will be pushed out shortly afterwards.”

No. Shipping a working “keyboard” isn’t what was promised in the Kickstarter campaign. The “cloud connected keyboard” with APIs was what we bought. If it doesn’t work with Mac when I get my keyboard, you failed to deliver on your campaign. I will not wait indefinitely for the “shortly after” OS support. You have zero credibility right now to make that promise.

"We just want to take this moment to state how much we appreciate everyone’s patience throughout this campaign. "

We just want to take this moment to state how your ignoring of our frustration, continual refusal of refunds, and your purposeful ignoring of our legitimate comments may appears to you like our patience.

"When a project is successfully funded, the creator must complete the project and fulfill each reward. Once a creator has done so, they’ve satisfied their obligation to their backers.

Throughout the process, creators owe their backers a high standard of effort, honest communication, and a dedication to bringing the project to life. At the same time, backers must understand that when they back a project, they’re helping to create something new — not ordering something that already exists. There may be changes or delays, and there’s a chance something could happen that prevents the creator from being able to finish the project as promised.

If a creator is unable to complete their project and fulfill rewards, they’ve failed to live up to the basic obligations of this agreement. To right this, they must make every reasonable effort to find another way of bringing the project to the best possible conclusion for backers. A creator in this position has only remedied the situation and met their obligations to backers if:

they post an update that explains what work has been done, how funds were used, and what prevents them from finishing the project as planned;
they work diligently and in good faith to bring the project to the best possible conclusion in a timeframe that’s communicated to backers;
they’re able to demonstrate that they’ve used funds appropriately and made every reasonable effort to complete the project as promised;
they’ve been honest, and have made no material misrepresentations in their communication to backers; and
they offer to return any remaining funds to backers who have not received their reward (in proportion to the amounts pledged), or else explain how those funds will be used to complete the project in some alternate form.
The creator is solely responsible for fulfilling the promises made in their project. If they’re unable to satisfy the terms of this agreement, they may be subject to legal action by backers."

You have breached the creator/backer agreement relationship by not shipping a keyboard with Multi OS support. You need to immediately start giving refunds, we just want our money back for a product that is NOT what you promised it would be. Based on your history of never hitting deadlines, we have NO reason to believe it ever WILL support anything other than windows, and in any other level of completion than it is today.

Guys this isn’t even funny anymore. I paid you a premium for a premium keyboard on the premise that it would be compatible with the systems I work on.

No Mac OS support means you did not meet your commitments on delivery. That means that we can rightfully start a lawsuit to get our money back. Check the kickstart legal terms of service. It’s all right there. This is extremely disappointing. You need to offer a refund for those not on Windows, immediately, before we decide to take action against you.

I will be happy to start a class action lawsuit for anyone that wants to jump on board. This is ridiculous at this point.

It was a dark day, the rain washed over the windows like waves from the sea. Everything was quiet in the house except for the abrupt sound of the door bell ringing.

DING DONG

Everyone in the room jumped. The anticipation has been heightened for a long time, 2 years in fact. As the man unlocks the door you can hear the rustling of leaves outside. Whoever is on the other side of the door is ready to get out of the rain and cold. The door groans as the hinges twist and turn. On the other side, a tall dark figure stands in the down pour and lightening that seems like a million souls wrenching in terror.

The tall dark figure hands over a package. No words were exchanged, but you could tell the package had been abused. There was a faint odor of soy sauce in the air as it looked like a bottle had spilled onto the package. What could this be? What is in this box? It appears light, almost as if it is empty.

The box was easier to open than expected, the tape barely holding the lid down. Somehow the box still retained a shape even though it was wet and soggy. As the lid opened, you could hear the water in the crease wash into other voids of the box. Everyone gathered round to see in horror as the man picked up a single sheet of paper with one word on it. Written in what looked like a crayon the word "SOON" was scrawled.

Than man dropped to his knees in agony as the update from DAS tore at his heart. The sorrow, the anguish, the tears rolling down his face in hot rage was no match for the way he really felt about this update. The others in the room backed away slowly as the man tore at his chest, renting his shirt open and screams out, "WHHHHHYYYY!?".

As things calmed, the man stares into the void of the word "SOON" and notices that the words appear to have more detail than he originally saw. You could faintly make out words that made up the one word on the page. The were many words, you could tell it took a considerable amount of time to write this in such manner, but the "Microsoft Support Only, Linux and Mac support soon" stood out among them.

He looked around at the others in the others in the room. They were in awe and fear as to what might come next, but nothing came. He just sat there, staring into the void that was now a mirror of his soul. He never spoke again.

Many years later, the grey hair brushed the mans shoulders as the wind ebbed and flowed. The house was barely habitable. He sat there, still waiting for the product he ordered those many years ago. "DING DONG", rang the door bell with surprising clarity. It took a while, but the man groaned as his bones creaked under the pressure of movement after so long of sitting. He opened the door to meet a tall figure holding a box. He looked the tall figure in the eyes for what seemed like an eternity. The figure, feeling uncomfortable, held out the box for the old man to take. The man never took the box. After a few moments, he fell to his knees, clutching his chest and screaming in what seemed to be an invisible pain. The tall figure didn't know what to do and before he could call an ambulance, the man was dead at the door, never to receive the product he ordered.